Geriatric Cup Feeder and Method of Use

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a geriatric feeding cup for feeding liquid to an elderly person, including a cup adapted to receive the liquid, a lid and a spout made of a soft pliable material fitted to the cup. In use, the geriatric feeding cup enables the search reflex, the suck reflex and the swallow reflex to be stimulated in the elderly person so that they can be fed the liquid in a more effective and safe manner. The invention also relates to a method of use of the geriatric feeding cup whereby the search reflex, the suck reflex and the swallow reflex are stimulated to feed the person.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/978,670 filed Sep. 16, 2013, which is a 35 U.S.C. 371 national phase application of PCT/AU2011/001621 filed Dec. 16, 2011, which claims the benefit of priority to U.S. provisional application No. 61/430,830 filed Jan. 7, 2011, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a geriatric cup feeder and in particular to a geriatric cup feeder including a soft disposable spout. The invention also relates to a method of use of geriatric cup feeder.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to treatment of geriatric patients and in particular to treatment of patients with dementia. It is envisaged that there may be other applications of the invention and the invention may be used for any suitable application. For example, the invention may be applicable for patients with significant brain injuries, neurological disorders including cerebral palsy, motor neutron disease, cerebrovascular accidents and Guillain-Barré Syndrome as well as for patients with some muscular disorders including muscular dystrophy.

The elderly such as a person with dementia may need assistance with many day to day tasks, and are often cared for in hospital or a long term care home. One of these day to day tasks is to assist the person to feed. Good quality nutrition is very important as is enabling the elderly person to eat enough to give them energy and be alert. A common problem with people as they become elderly is that the urge to eat and drink lessens. Elderly people often suffer from dehydration through drinking insufficient water, exacerbated if there is a concern about incontinence. Good hydration and nutrition enable the elderly person to function much better, and often become more animated, have better cognition and are less lethargic and apathetic, symptoms of dehydration. As dementia develops the problems of feeding and hydrating the person worsens.

The problem with feeding the elderly with dementia and especially end-stage dementia is the risk of aspirating and choking on the food. In advanced dementia the elderly also tend to clench their teeth and spit out food that is introduced between their lips, much to the frustration of the carer. Hyperactive spitting reflex and the blowing reflex mean that much of the food is spat or blown out of the mouth and not taken by the patient. If the carer cannot get the elderly person to stop clenching their teeth and spitting out of the food the elderly person will not get sufficient food or liquid. Insufficient food and water leads to malnutrition, dehydration and eventually starvation unless intervention is undertaken. The intervention may be nasogastric feeding through use of a tube in the nose, or Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (“PEG”) feeding direct into the stomach. Neither of these methods is considered, however, to be best practice and most commonly palliative care measurements are put in place, at this stage.

One way to feed dementia patients is through use of a modified cup with a hard spout, as used for training young children to drink from a cup. A thickened liquid diet is presented in this manner or by use of a spoon to feed the elderly person. The problem of aspiration is partly addressed by offering food in the form of thickened liquid. However, the risk is still present as a poorly controlled volume of food is introduced to the patient who has an impaired eating and swallowing mechanism and so may choke.

As a patient enters the advanced stages of dementia, the problem of feeding becomes more and more difficult. Introducing hard utensils into the mouth of the patient and past the clenched teeth induced by the hard utensil become very difficult. In this way feeding the patient a liquid diet by use of spoon or the hard spout of a modified cup becomes impossible. It is at this stage that alternative methods of feeding such as nasogastric feeding or PEG feeding may be used, neither of which is ideal or pleasant for the patient.

Through careful study by the inventor it has been noted that the cascade of primitive oral reflexes are retained in dementia patients and are often enhanced in advanced dementia. It is these primitive oral reflexes that allow a new born baby to suckle from within a few moments of birth, by searching out the nipple, sucking and swallowing milk successfully. The same instinctive reflex is present in the dementia patients and the inventor has found a surprising manner of using these oral reflexes to enable the person to be fed in an effective, satisfying and safe manner.

For clarity, any prior art referred to herein, does not constitute an admission that the prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in Australia or elsewhere.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a geriatric cup feeder that at least ameliorates one or more of the aforementioned problems of the prior art. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of use of a geriatric cup feeder that at least ameliorates one or more of the aforementioned problems of the prior art.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention provides a geriatric feeding cup for feeding liquid to an elderly person, the geriatric feeding cup including:

-   -   a. a substantially rigid cup including at least one wall, the         cup being adapted to receive the liquid;     -   b. a lid for the cup to retain the liquid therein; and     -   c. a long wide spout of a width of more than 12 millimetres and         a length of more than 30 millimetres, made of a soft pliable         material, the long wide spout being fitted to the wall of the         cup and being suitable to dispense thickened liquid food and in         use to elicit the search, suck and swallow reflex in an elderly         person,

wherein, use of the geriatric feeding cup enables the search reflex, the suck reflex and the swallow reflex to be stimulated in the elderly person by touching the tip of the spout repeatedly on the corner of the mouth of the elderly person to stimulate the search reflex and once stimulated moving the tip of the spout backwards and forwards on the tongue to stimulate the suck reflex and depositing liquid on the posterior aspect of the tongue to stimulate the swallow reflex so that the elderly person can be fed the liquid in a more effective and safe manner.

The elderly person may be any elderly person who requires assistance feeding where traditional methods are no longer suitable. Preferably, the elderly person is a person with dementia. Most preferably, the elderly person is a person with advanced dementia.

The cup may be any suitable cup or vessel. The cup may take any suitable shape or form. The cup may have a substantially circular flat base and a surrounding wall. In alternative forms of the invention the cup may be a substantially square, oval, irregular or rectangular based cup. The cup may be bottle shaped and in this form of the invention the lid may be omitted.

The cup may be made of any suitable material. Preferably, the cup is made of a solid material. Preferably, the cup is made of plastic. Preferably, the cup is reusable. Preferably, the cup can be readily cleaned and or sterilized for reuse. Preferably, the cup includes calibrations to measure the volume of liquid taken by the person. The calibrations may take any suitable form. The calibrations may be in the form of measurement marks on the outside of the wall of the cup to indicate the volume of liquid remaining in the cup.

Preferably, additional marks or calibrations may be included for filling with a powder that can be made up to liquid food of a suitable consistency.

The lid may be any suitable shape to fit the cup. Preferably, the lid is substantially circular. The lid may be made of any suitable material. Preferably, the lid is made of a solid material. Preferably, the lid is made of plastic. Preferably, the lid is reusable. Preferably, the lid can be readily cleaned and or sterilized for reuse. The lid may fit on the cup with a push fit. Alternatively, the lid may fit on the cup with a screw fit. The lid may fit on the cup in any suitable manner. In one form the invention the lid may be omitted or the cup used without the lid.

Preferably, the lid includes a breathing hole that can allow neutralisation of the build-up of negative pressure created by the sucking process. The breathing hole may take any suitable form. Preferably, the breathing hole is a small substantially circular hole in the lid.

Preferably, the soft pliable spout is at least 40 millimetres long. The spout may be any suitable length or thickness. Preferably, the spout includes a terminal opening. Preferably, the terminal opening is of a size suitable for the liquid to be dispensed. In one form the terminal opening may be 5 millimetres wide. In another form of the invention the terminal opening may be 3 millimetres wide. In yet another form of the invention, the terminal opening may be 1 millimetre wide. Preferably, the width of the terminal opening is determined by the thickness of the liquid to be dispensed to enable a steady and controlled flow of liquid on to the tongue.

Most preferably, in one form of the invention the spout is substantially 40 millimetres long, substantially 12 millimetres wide and has a terminal opening of 5 millimetres wide. The spout may be made of any suitable soft material. Preferably the spout is made of rubber. Alternatively, the spout may be made of soft plastic, silicon, or other suitable material.

Most preferably, the spout is disposable. Preferably, a range of different spouts are available. Preferably, spouts of different lengths are available for use to suit mouths of different sizes. Preferably, a spout is used of a length suitable to enable the tip of the spout to be put on the tongue comfortably and to deposit food on the back of the tongue. The preference of the person may determine the use of a longer or shorter length of spout. Preferably, a range of different spouts are available with different widths of terminal opening suitable for dispensing liquids of different consistency or thickness.

Preferably, a range of spouts are available and the spouts are colour coded to indicate different spouts. In one form of the invention, carers may use colour identification to readily and safely find a suitable spout for use for a particular patient. Preferably, a range of different spouts are included and the spouts are differentiated by being colour coded for ready and safe identification. Preferably, the spouts are colour coded to denote different sizes. Preferably, the spouts are colour coded to denote different lengths. Preferably, the spouts are colour coded to denote spouts with different widths of terminal opening. Other marking or indications may be used to communicate the type or size of spout.

Preferably, the search reflex is stimulated in any suitable manner. Preferably, the search reflex is stimulated by putting the tip of the spout repeatedly in the corner of the mouth of the person. The tip of the spout is preferably wetted before being put repeatedly in the corner of the mouth of the person to assist to stimulate the search reflex. Optionally, honey or another desirable tasting food may be put on the tip of the spout before being put repeatedly in the corner of the mouth of the person to assist to stimulate the search reflex.

Preferably, once the search reflex has been activated the tip of the spout can be introduced through the teeth of the person and placed on the tongue. Preferably, the carer tips the geriatric feeding cup to a suitable angle. Preferably, the tip of the spout is gently moved forwards and backwards on the tongue to stimulate the suck reflex. Preferably, once the suck reflex is activated food can be introduced on to the posterior aspect of the tongue in a controlled way. The food is introduced by the patient sucking on the spout and deposited on the posterior aspect of the tongue, stimulating the swallow reflex. Preferably, use of the search reflex, suck reflex and swallow reflex enables an elderly patient to feed easily and safely with optimal airway protection in place.

Preferably, use of the geriatric feeding cup facilitates testing the consistency of liquid food. If, on tipping the cup the liquid food does not run out of the spout and on gently milking the spout the liquid food flows the carer can be reassured that the consistency of the liquid food is suitable. Preferably, use of the invention avoids the need for specific testing of the thickness of the liquid for suitability, the carer can determine that the thickness of the liquid is suitable themselves.

It is envisaged that liquid food may be provided in powder form with instructions to mix with different volumes of water to achieve a particular suitable consistency. The powder may be of a predetermined nutritional content when made up according to the instructions. Preferably, a range of volumes of water can be instructed to match a suitable thickness of liquid food for use with a spout of a particular terminal opening width.

Preferably, the cup is tipped gently forward to assist feeding and to minimise introduction of air as the patient sucks. The patient may be given regular breaks from sucking to rest and breathe normally.

Accordingly, the present invention also provides a method of use of a geriatric feeding cup for feeding liquid to an elderly person, the geriatric feeding cup including a substantially rigid cup including at least one wall, the cup being adapted to receive the liquid, a lid for the cup to retain the liquid therein, and a long wide spout made of a soft pliable material suitable to dispense thickened liquid food, the method including the steps of:

filling the geriatric feeding cup with liquid;

using the tip of the geriatric feeding cup to stimulate the mouth of the patient to activate the search reflex;

introducing the tip of the spout through the teeth on to the tongue of the person;

moving the tip of the spout gently backwards and forwards on the tongue to stimulate the suck reflex; and

depositing liquid on the posterior aspect of the tongue, once the suck reflex is activated, to activate a safe swallow reflex, feeding the person.

Preferably, the geriatric feeding cup is the geriatric feeding cup of the invention in any of its forms.

Medical treatments or medicines may be given to the patient through use of the geriatric feeding cup.

The method may include the additional step of: selecting a suitable spout to use for the person and the liquid to be fed.

The selection may be assisted by colour coding of spouts of different lengths or size of terminal opening.

The method may include the further additional step of: fitting the spout to the spout fitting of the cup before use.

The method may include the further additional step of: putting a lid on the geriatric feeding cup after filling with liquid .

The method may include the further additional step of: wetting the tip of the spout of the geriatric feeding cup before stimulating the mouth of the patient.

Alternatively, honey or other desirable substances may be put on the tip of the spout of the geriatric feeding cup and introduced to the corner of the mouth of the patient to stimulate the search reflex.

The method may include the further step of testing the consistency of a liquid food by tipping the spout down, no liquid should escape, and gently milking the contents through the spout in a single movement to test that the liquid flows easily.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The geriatric cup feeder can be manufactured commercially and sold for domestic use or to hospitals and other health care facilities where the elderly need to be fed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described in connection with a non-limiting preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a geriatric feeding cup according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the area circled A of FIG. 1 illustrating the spout, the cup and lid being omitted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION INCLUDING A BEST MODE

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a preferred embodiment of the invention will be described, where feeding cup 1 includes cup 10 and lid 12. Spout 14 is fitted to cup 10 on spout fitting 16. Cup 10 has a flat circular base (not labelled) surrounded by wall 18. The cup may vary in volume and design as is suitable for the application. Wall 18 and base of cup 10 are illustrated as made of the same solid material, plastic. Plastic is particular applicable as it is strong and readily cleaned for reuse. It is intended that cup 10 include calibrated measurements on the outside so that it can easily be seen how much liquid the person has been fed. Lid 12 is shown fitting with a push fit onto the upper edge of wall 18 of cup 10. In alternative forms lid 12 can fit with a screw fit or other suitable means of maintaining lid 12 on cup 10. Lid 12 includes a small round breathing hole (not shown) that neutralises the build-up of negative pressure created by the sucking process.

Thickened liquid food, liquidised food or liquids can be fed to the person through use of geriatric cup 1. In fact any flowable material can be introduced to the person through use of the cup, including medications or medical treatments. Where liquid food is being fed to the person the nutritional balance of the food is carefully considered to give the person a suitable diet to provide nutrition and energy. Powder may be supplied that can be made up to a liquid of a predetermined consistency when a particular volume of powder and water are used. The liquid, when made up according to the instructions will have a predetermined nutritional value, which can be noted by the carer.

Spout 14 as illustrated is a disposable soft rubber spout 12 millimetres wide and 40 millimetres long. The body 20 of spout 16 is long and this length is of particularly importance. It is necessary for spout 16 to be of a suitable length to pass through the lips and towards the back of the tongue as described in more detail below. A short spout would not extend far enough to enable the food to be introduced onto the back of tongue of the person, important for stimulating the suck and swallow reflexes. Terminal opening 22 of spout 14 as illustrated is 5 millimetres wide; the width of terminal opening 22 can be varied depending on the thickness of the liquid to be dispensed, for example, 3 millimetres and 1 millimetres wide.

Spout 14 is disposable and fits with a non-slip push fit on spout fitting 16. The non-slip fitting of spout 14 on spout fitting 16 is a safe, strong connection so that spout 14 is maintained in fluid connection with cup 10 during feeding. Liquid in cup 10 can be tipped forward so as to pass though spout fitting 16 into spout 14 towards terminal opening 22 through which liquid can leave feeding cup 1 and enter the mouth of the patient as the patient sucks.

Different lengths of spout 14 are available so a suitable length can be chosen to feed a particular patient or to feed different liquids. For example, a larger individual may require a longer spout 14 in order that spout 14 can reach beyond the teeth to stimulate the tongue and the suck and swallow reflexes. If water is being fed to an individual, spout 14 may be chosen having a smaller terminal opening 22 than one for use to feed thicker liquid food. A range of spouts 14 should be on offer to suit not only the size of mouth of the patient the thickness of the liquid food but also the personal preference of the patient.

When it is determined that traditional feeding methods are being unsuccessful it may be attempted to feed an elderly dementia patient using geriatric feeding cup 1. To do so the corner of the mouth of the person is repetitively stimulated with the wet tip of spout 16 of cup 1. This stimulation by the wet tip of spout 16 is an important part of the stimulation of the primitive oral reflexes and activates the search reflex. Once the search reflex is stimulated and the lips of the person start searching for spout 16 and the teeth part allowing the carer to introduce soft spout 16 gently through the teeth and placed on the tongue. Use of a hard utensil or hard spout would not work in this instance as the person would immediately clench their teeth and resist against the introduction of the hard plastic or metal items into their mouth. The spitting and blowing reflexes may also be stimulated causing food to be spat or blown out of the mouth of the patient. With soft spout 16 through the teeth of the person and positioned on the tongue, soft spout 16 is moved gently backwards and forward on the tongue to activate the suck reflex. Once the suck reflex is active the liquid food can be deposited in a controlled way on the posterior aspect of the tongue, activating a safe swallow reflex with optimal airway protection in place. The search, suck and swallow reflexes are the primitive oral reflexes used by babies to safely feed, from birth. These automatic and instinctive behaviours can be used again to enable an elderly person to feed, comfortably and safely.

Use of geriatric feeding cup 1 is highly preferably to use of nasogastric or PEG feeding where other feeding methods have failed. It is clear that elderly people, the same as everyone, feel better when they have sufficient nutrition. Dementia patients may have a temporary improvement in their alertness and cognition when they are well fed. When a patient has insufficient nutrition and or hydration apathy and confusion may be the result.

The new method of feeding using feeding cup 1 leads to a more effective, satisfying and safe feeding of patients with dementia.

It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that changes may be made to the embodiment disclosed herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention in its various aspects. 

We claim:
 1. A geriatric feeding cup for feeding thickened liquid food to an elderly person, the geriatric feeding cup including: a substantially rigid cup including at least one wall, the cup being adapted to receive the thickened liquid food; a lid for the cup to retain the thickened liquid food therein; and a long wide spout, releasably attached to the at least one wall of the substantially rigid cup, wherein the long wide spout has a width of more than 12 millimetres and a length of more than 30 millimetres, and is made of a soft pliable material, the long wide spout extends perpendicular from the wall of the cup, wherein the long wide spout is adapted to dispense thickened liquid food of a suitable thickness to feed the person and to elicit the search, suck and swallow reflex to enable feeding, wherein, use of the geriatric feeding cup enables the search reflex, the suck reflex and the swallow reflex to be stimulated in the elderly person by touching the tip of the spout repeatedly on the corner of the mouth of the elderly person to stimulate the search reflex and once stimulated moving the tip of the spout backwards and forwards on the tongue to stimulate the suck reflex and depositing thickened liquid food on the posterior aspect of the tongue to stimulate the swallow reflex so that the elderly person can be fed the thickened liquid food in a more effective and safe manner.
 2. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein the person is any person who requires assistance feeding, where traditional methods are no longer suitable.
 3. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein the person is a person with a neurological disorder.
 4. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein the configuration of the long wide spout avoids the need for additional testing of the consistency of the thickened liquid food before dispensing, as the liquid runs out of the spout on tipping if too thin, but if the liquid can be dispensed by “milking” the long wide spout, the consistency of the thickened liquid food is suitable to feed to the person.
 5. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein the carer can determine that the thickened liquid food is of a consistency to feed the person without specific additional testing, but through use of the cup.
 6. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein the thickened liquid food is made up from powder to a particular consistency.
 7. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein the soft pliable spout is at least 40 millimetres long.
 8. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein the spout includes a terminal opening of a size suitable to the thickness of the liquid to be dispensed.
 9. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 4, wherein the terminal opening is 1 millimetre, 3 millimetres or 5 millimetres wide.
 10. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein the spout is substantially 40 millimetres long, substantially 12 millimetres wide and has a terminal opening of 5 millimetres wide.
 11. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein the spout is disposable.
 12. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein a range of different spouts of different lengths are available for use to suit mouths of different sizes.
 13. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein a range of different spouts are included and the spouts are differentiated by being colour coded for ready and safe identification.
 14. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 9, wherein the spouts are colour coded to denote different sizes or lengths.
 15. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 9, wherein the spouts are colour coded to denote spouts with different widths of terminal opening.
 16. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein a range of different spouts are available with different widths of terminal opening suitable for dispensing liquids of different consistency or thickness.
 17. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein the tip of the spout is wetted before being put repeatedly in the corner of the mouth of the person to assist to stimulate the search reflex.
 18. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein honey or another desirable tasting food is be put on the tip of the spout before being put repeatedly in the corner of the mouth of the person to assist to stimulate the search reflex.
 19. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein once the search reflex has been activated the tip of the spout can be introduced through the teeth of the person and placed on the tongue.
 20. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein once the suck reflex is activated food can be introduced on to the posterior aspect of the tongue in a controlled way.
 21. The geriatric feeding cup of claim 1, wherein use of the search reflex, suck reflex and swallow reflex enables an elderly patient to feed easily and safely with optimal airway protection in place. 